Angelos's Finale
by Brother-Sargeant
Summary: A story about the Space marines of the Imperial Fist chapter


A work by Sarge

Angelos stood alone outside the Rhino transport. His nerves on edge as he double-checked his bolter. This was his first time going into combat and he did not want to be caught unprepared. Making doubly sure of the status of his gun, he finally felt prepared. Before he stepped into the Rhino armored transport, he looked at his battle-brothers already seated inside the massive metal beast.

Sitting, they looked like normal men, massive men, but men none the less. He knew that at full height they, like him, were around eight feet tall, each enhanced by the genetic and psychological modification done to them to make them better than any human. They were much faster, much stronger, and far better than any man in every aspect. In addition to the super strength, the powered ceramite armor they wore had micro-servos that increased their already super-human strength. The hardened material it is made of is ceramite, some of the strongest armor available and every Space Marine wears the powered combat suit, making them near unstoppable to most small arms fire.

Garbed in their combat armor and each carrying their weapons, the marines seated in the Rhino seemed to look as if they lived up to their moniker, the Angels of Death. His mind raced back to the knowledge put into his brain. These super-soldiers, the best in the galaxy, fought for only two reasons. The first was to defend the Imperium of Man against the vile forces of Chaos, the barbaric Orks, the mysterious Eldar, the traitorous Tau, and the cold, mechanical Necrons. The second, was to defend their God-Emperor. The Emperor was an extremely powerful physic who made the Primarchs and created the original Space Marine chapters. After he almost died in a battle with the traitor Horus, he was entombed in the life support system known as The Golden Throne to extend his life. He now acts as a guiding hand and an anchor point for star-ships to go through the Immaterium safely.

Angelos was snapped back into reality by the bark of his Sarge's voice," Angelos, we all know it's a pretty Rhino, but would you mind getting in the damn thing!"

Striding into the Rhino, Angelos immediately took a seat in the armored vehicle. It was dark, but with his enhanced eyes he quickly adjusted to the blackness. Almost immediately he was drawn to the Sarge. An intimidating man, even compared to his fellow Space Marines. A veteran of a hundred campaigns, the look of war was etched into his face. Instead of the chainswords the members of the assault team carried, he bore a true weapon of rank. A powersword. When activated, a blue light danced along the blade, making it able to pierce the strongest of armors. All in all, the Sarge was a powerful and intimidating man, but Angelos would not have been able to find a man better suited to follow into battle.

"Men, for many of you, this will be your first true taste of battle as an Astartes. As such, it is only fair that I go slow when I give you the briefing. An orckish horde has taken a good part of the planet Ignis. Normally this would not be a matter for the Space Marines, but it seems that the ork mob there is almost in it's Waaagh! stage. This means, for you slower soldiers, that the local guardsmen will be slaughtered to feed their bloodlust. The weapons and equipment manufactured from this planet make it essential to our Chapter. Now, we will be alone in this. We are to go in and cut out the heart of this fledgling Waaagh! by dropping in and killing the warboss, making the whole mob a disorganized rabble. It will quickly turn to infighting, and weaken itself even further. Oh, on a side note, we'll be going by pod, so pray that the Emperor and to our holy Primarch Rogal Dorn that the wind is in our favor.

After the hour long ride through the bumpy desert terrain, the marines finally reached the Imperial guard fire base. The well maintained artillery batteries suck out in stark contrast to the flat land of Ignis. Huge guns pounded fiery holocaust into the ork line. Every time the green wave tried to advance forward, they were mowed down by huge artillery fire and waves upon waves of lasgun and autogun and auto cannon fire. Even with these horrendous losses, the green skins kept up the wave tactics, and Angelos knew it would only be a matter of time before the waves broke through and ripped the base apart.

After disembarking, Angelos and the Sarge stood side by side and talked to Governor-General Magnus to learn the situation. He told them that as long as the supplies kept coming, they could hold the ork tide back, but sooner or later, they would be over run simply by the mass of orks. After an acknowledgement, Sarge and Angelos left the high ranking man and went back to the men.

"Men, this is it, we're leaving now. Get into the pod launcher, now. No time for rest." barked Sarge.

Angelos looked up at the massive gun. It dominated the firing line and dwarfed even the monstrous Basilisk artillery guns. Instead of a loading breach, there was only a door. He knew the door was the entrance to the pod, but looking at it, it gave him a feeling of dread. No one really wants to get shot out of a cannon, after all. Especially one so large. "Alright men, get in."

After piling into the pod, they received a blessing from the techpriest. With the purity seals in place, it was time to embark. A massive explosion sent the six marines into near orbit. The acceleration was incredible and the G-Forces pushed the men into seats like a heavy weight. Two of the marines clung to their heavy bolters, ready to act as fire support, leaving the other four as assault with chainswords and bolt piston. So high the marines ascended that their weapons actually started rising on their own accord. And then, the pod tilted back down towards the sandy orb that was Ignis.

The men steeled themselves for impact when the retro-rockets fired, slowing the pod to a near stop. After the doors fell from the sides, like a flowers peddles being lowered, the marines jumped out. Taking in the surroundings, Angelos immediately noticed something was amiss. They were supposed to have landed in the middle of the ork Waaagh! and yet there were none of the savage greenskins. Not even the goblin-like gretchin. As if in answer to the thoughts of Angelos, a dark, deep, and loud voice boomed out from the West.

"So, youz humies finally came ta get me ay?" the strange voice boomed.

"Of course, beast. You didn't think that you could kill loyal soldiers of the Emperor and live to see another day?" Sarge snapped back.

This was the first time Angelos had ever seen the warboss. He was huge, at least thirteen feet tall. An apish face, with arms the size of trees, ending in hands that wielded an enormous power ax. Standing at his side were two orks almost as large, and the knowledge from the tutor machines told him these were the Nobz. These beasts of green muscle wielded an ax similar to their boss, but their other hands ended in the powerful metal claws that they sometimes had surgically grafted to make them more "stompy".

With a whistle from the boss, a large group of smaller orks, if they could even be associated with that adjective, rose from the dust about 20 yards behind the marines and charged towards them. With a command from the Sarge, the two support gunners let loose a barrage of bolter shells that slammed into the ork wave, punching holes into the line. Even with the losses, each ork that was stopped was replaced by another. However, the orks could not make any yardage under this withering hail of fire.

Seeing the trap was being halted, the boss grunted a command in the orkish language to his massive body guards. With alarming speed, the two Nobz pulled out massive and antique looking bolters of their own and blew apart one of the assault team, a marine know as Julius. The bolters shells at first just glanced, but in a blink, a well placed shot pierced the ceramite chest plate and exploded, tearing a chunk out of Julius. Not wanting to share their fate, the other three men, Angelos, the Sarge, and Virgil charged at the three green beasts. Angelos and Virgil were to attack the two Nob body guards, while Sarge got in close to the green war boss.

The buzzing of the newly activated chainswords was overwhelmed by the crackling, lightning-like energy that danced around his power sword's blade, making it far more deadly than any other sword.

Angelos met his ork foe blade to blade, sparks flying from the blade of the ax colliding with the rotating teeth of his chainsword. Parrying a blow from the ax, Angelos slashed out and severed the ork's arm, unleashing a torrent of green blood from the beast as it let out a howl. To finish the creature off, he leapt into the air and brought his mighty sword down, burying it into the ork's head.

Virgil, however, was struggling. He had intended be one of the support gunners, but after his heavy bolter malfunctioned he was changed to assault and was not as well versed in melee combat as Angelos. Each time the Nob lashed out at him, he would parry, but the speed of his parries were becoming slower, more sluggish than the last. Soon, Angelos knew, Virgil would be overtaken and killed by the stronger and more experienced ork.

Coming to the aid of his battle-brother, Angelos fired his bolter at the Nob, only to have it jam. Knowing it was now useless at the moment, he charged with lighting speed, hoping to ram the beast. Not realizing how fast this monstrous warrior was, he was surprised to see it shove Virgil back and have it block his blow. As Angelos was about to swing again, the Nob took the advantage and lashed out with his ax, slashing in a wide horizontal arc and cleaving a deep gash into Angelos's armor, barely missing the skin that lay below.

Stunned by this, Angelos took a step back, and the beast pressed the assault. Hitting the blade out of Angelos's hand, the beast them lodged his massive ax into Angelos's chest, severing his two hearts. As Angelos fell, the world seemed to slow. He saw Virgil jump up and end the Nob's life through decapitation. Angelos turned his head and looked at Sarge. The fight he saw was incredible. The war boss had the advantage in height and size, but the Sarge had hundreds of years of experience and incredible reflexes. Every time the beast lashed out with the massive power ax, the Sarge would either dodge it or parry with his own power sword. Soon, the ork boss was getting mad and losing his temper. Each time he failed to land a blow, he got more angry and frustrated, until finally he lost his mind. Charging at Sarge full on, Sarge simply stepped to the side and slashed the boss across the back. The crackling blade bit deep and severed the beast's spine and the ork lost all feeling as he hit the desert sand of Ignis.

The last image Angelos saw before he was met by his ancestor's by the Emperor's holy throne was Sarge standing over the fallen ork, and shoving the blade of his crackling power sword into the orks heart, ending his life, and the Waaagh! against the planet. This heroic fight saved the planet and kept the innocent men and women loyal to the Emperor safe. This knowledge made Angelos feel oddly warm as he closed his eye, never to open them again.


End file.
